Best Passive Income Products on Etsy
Etsy has become a widely used platform by many, and the growth of users accelerated tremendously when the pandemic hit. Now people had to seek other ways to generate income, and selling digital products through Etsy was one of them.
As more and more people join the plat, the fiercer the competition gets, meaning you have to put in a lot of work to succeed on the platform. But before we dive into all the hard work, you must know what products to sell – and here are 33 examples to start you off.
Best passive income products to sell on Etsy
On Etsy, you can choose between selling physical or digital products. While physical products can be a great business, it will not be directly passive since you’ll have to at least pack and ship the products, and you might even also have to produce the products every time you get an order.
Thus these ideas will be centered around digital products than can be sold on Etsy.
Templates
Templates are great because they’re never going out of fashion. People always want to be more efficient and productive, and with a template people and businesses can easily add, remove, or change anything, and they don’t have to make it from scratch. Thus, templates are great ideas.
For example, a lonely mother with a bad financial situation may need an overview and a great budget template – and I bet she won’t find the time to make one herself.
I’ve made a budget template myself, and if you want to know how you can construct a similar one then read this article.
Another great example is people who are looking for jobs who cannot figure out how to set up the perfect resume, and therefore need a template where they can just fill in all the necessary information.
- Budget templates
- Annual forecasting templates for businesses
- Resumes
- Blog post templates
- Instagram/Facebook story templates
- PowerPoint/Keynote/Canva templates
- Templates for school such as finance, law, math, etc.
- Invoice templates
- Cover/banner templates for social media
- Website design templates
- WordPress plugin template
- Template for online creators
Printables
Just like templates, printables can be great digital products to sell as well. All you need is a computer with access to the right designing software/tools and you are set.
The costs of designing printables are minimal, especially if you only use free software such as the free version of Canva.
Printables are cool because you can design them around almost anything for any occasion; Birthday parties, weddings, parties, work, Halloween, Christmas, and so on. There exist so many possibilities that I doubt that you’ll ever run out of ideas.
- Journals
- Stickers
- Wall art
- Phone case designs
- Coloring books for kids
- Guest books
- Quote books
- Birthday, Christmas, Halloween, Easter, and Valentines cards
- Puzzle books
- Calendars
- Planners
- Wrapping paper
Non-Printable Designs
Aesthetic visuals and graphic designs are always in demand by businesses and small shops. And just as the number of sellers has increased, so has the quality of the products on Etsy, which is why it has become a reliable platform for businesses to use when looking for graphic designs.
In this section, we look at design products that are not meant to be printed.
- T-shirt designs
- Logo & banners
- Wallpaper for phones and computers
- Instagram and Snapchat filters
- Vector designs
- Photography
- Fonts
- 3D models
- Brushes for Illustrator and Photoshop
How to Sell Products on Etsy?
Now you know which products you can sell, it’s time to look at 7 tips that will help you increase your sales on Etsy.
#1 Build Your Brand
When we meet people the impression we get happens in seconds, and the same thing goes for your business. You only have 7 seconds to make a good first impression ( Source: Forbes.com). Thus, it’s essential to build a brand and a store that leaves every visitor with a good first impression.
Use great design and visuals as well as great catchphrases, that will position your store at top of mind of the customer.
- Banner design
- Professional logo
- Catchphrases
- Colors
That’s it. It’s physically impossible to take in more in the first 7 seconds, which means all the other things you also focus on are not helping with the first impression.
#2 Your First 0 — 10 Sales
Nobody wants to be the first one to buy your product, since they don’t know if they can trust the quality of it. It’s the same thing when offering services on platforms like Fiverr and Upwork — you need sales and reviews before the first “real” customer will buy from you.
Therefore, try practicing your sales pitch in front of family and friends, and see if you can convince them to buy your product. Explain to them how they can benefit from it, and use their response to improve your product.
These sales will definitely get the snowball rolling.
#3 Design Aesthetic Product Images
On Etsy, you’ll see that people are intrigued and drawn to stores with uniqueness and creativity. This makes it the perfect place to unfold your creative design skills and make converting product images.
When taking product images make sure to use your own images, nobody wants to see the same common ones used by everyone — just like Medium; the same boring images from Unsplash don’t do any good for writers.
#4 SEO on Etsy
I’m sorry, but you must do it no matter how much you hate it.
The better SEO you do the more will you’ll tell the Etsy search algorithm to display your products at the top. Furthermore, the Google algorithm might also catch it, and drive in some external traffic as well.
- Find popular Etsy keywords
There are many tools available when it comes to finding keywords for your products on Etsy. Just to give you a few:
1: Salesamurai
2: Makerwords
3: Marmalead
- Write descriptive, but SEO-optimized headlines
You might know it from your personal blog page or your profile here on Medium. Writing headlines that are descriptive, click-worthy, and optimized for the search algorithm is key to high traffic. And if you thought it was different on Etsy you were wrong.
On Etsy make sure your title’s first words are the most crucial keywords from your research above. After this include if it’s new, updated, purpose, and any additional information that would fit into your title.
- Each product description should include relevant keywords (also bullet points to make it easier to navigate and swallow)
Include all the basic information that’s needed such as the version, purpose, price, features, and what it includes. If you can write it more detailed and in a creative way, you might get the customers to stay longer on your page — which I think will tell the algorithm that your product is relevant.
- You have 13 tags — Use them all
If you ever tried posting a photo on Instagram, you might have come across that you can to 10 photos in one post, and you should of course use all 10 photos since that would make people stay longer on Instagram — thus Instagram would push your profile in front of more people.
The same thing with Etsy. If you use all the 13 tags and make sure to make them all relevant you may be able to connect with a bigger audience, which may lead to more sales.
#5 Connect Your Social Media Accounts
We all like credibility, and connecting your store to your social media accounts will make people think “okay you are a real person”, and maybe establish more trust in your store.
And make sure to use your social media accounts to promote your store. For instance, make daily tweets on Twitter, and post images on Instagram. This would give the impression of an active store, and a store where you easily can connect with the owner.
That’s something I and many others appreciate.
#6 Use Your Blog or Build One
If you already have a blog with a huge and loyal following it would be a no-brainer to use it to increase sales.
In addition, if you don’t have a blog building one can be beneficial in the long run, not only to promote your Etsy products but also in relation to other income streams.
Why a blog?
Great question and the answer is simple. Although you might not get a lot of traffic to a new blog it’s still beneficial to make one. The reason is that a blog makes room for posts, where you can write in-depth content around the products you sell.
This would increase your trustworthiness, and a few visitors might choose to buy your products based on your post.
7# Thank You & Coupons
It’s not all about getting new customers, you must also retain the ones you get. And a great way to do this is to send a personally designed thank you card after purchase to show your appreciation.
However, something even more powerful is to give buying customers some coupons that they can use next time they buy from you. This would create an incitement to come back and get the discount, which means more money in your pockets.
Final Thoughts
Don’t forget to have fun while running your Etsy store, and enjoy the process. These are 33 things you could sell on Etsy, and you might be able to increase your sales with these 7 hacks.
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